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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Time Suck

What day is it again? I've been on vacation officially since 5 p.m. last Friday, but that doesn't mean I've had much time to relax. We just got back about two hours ago from a quick trip to visit some friends in D.C. for Christmas, and I'm in the process of doing several loads of laundry and repacking so we can leave for Florida in the morning. Once we get there, I'll finally be able to relax a bit and enjoy my time off, but man, traveling is such a hassle!

The good thing about the trip to D.C. was that I got about eight hours of car knitting time, plus time sitting around on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, plus about an hour or so each night after Rainbow went to bed. That meant that, at least in terms of my knitting, I was pretty productive.

Before we got halfway there on Tuesday, I had finished Rainbow's Antler Cardigan.

Obviously it still needs to have its buttons sewn on (they were selected before we left) and it needs a good blocking, but the time-consuming part of the project is done. If I can manage to get all my stuff together, those last two items may get done tonight.

After we arrived at our destination, I started a pair of mittens for Rainbow, whose hands haven't been very warm in the synthetic ones she's been using. The pair was quickly finished by the next day.

The yarn is plain old Cascade 220, in a bright pink (they're not as red as they appear here). The patten is called (so aptly) Classic Mittens, and I believe it's a vintage pattern. Even if it's not, it's free online and very easy, as you can see. I made the 2-4 size, but I have plenty of yarn left in the skein, so I will probably make another pair in a size larger to have on hand. These should be very cozy and warm, as they were worked on a size 4 needle (they stand up on their own!).

Finally, I'm just a toe away from having a finished pair of socks for me.

These are definitely getting done tonight -- no way I'm dragging these all the way to Florida only to finish them in the first few minutes there!

I am mostly packed, though deciding what yarn (and how much) to take was challenging. In the end, I decided on yarn for two smallish design projects and two skeins of STR for some replacement Monkey socks for me. If that's not enough, I suppose I'll have to find a yarn store somewhere (or I guess I could just read the two books I'm taking).